Ask Slashdot: An Open Handheld Terminal For Retail Stores? 114
Evil Al writes "From the ubiquitous Verifone card terminals to the fancy Apple Store terminals, point-of-sale devices are everywhere. But does anyone know of an open terminal (with printer + Wi-Fi), preferably running Linux, that we can use to run a custom application for retail, made by a reputable manufacturer?"
PCI (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:PCI (Score:2, Insightful)
Just because you're PCI compliant, doesn't mean you are until there is a breach and it is shown that you were indeed compliant...i.e., Visa wins. The best bet is to offload that risk to a processor as much as humanly possible.
Also, wifi + credit cards = lame. Really, really lame. Please don't do that...also, ipsec is nice when you can get it. SSL is not the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll ask the easy question.. WHY?
Seriously, when you business relies on a machine that must work or you are losing money, everyone wants someone to turn to when it doesn't work. That someone isn't a man page or IRC channel or mailing list or whatever support for $foo GPL program here. It's a computer, not a holy war. You press buttons and it does things. When you want a computer you control, you run linux, when you want a computer that grandma can use, you give her a Mac and when you want retail system that checks people out, you run whatever OS that your POS maker asks you to.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
So he can create a credit card skimmer? That was my first thought anyway.